ABSTRACT
OurTransdisciplinary Design (TDD) mode of inquiry has evolved over eight years and is globally transferable, replicable, and scalable. Our conceptual framework for TDD encompasses hybridized progression, co-production, and manifestation. Building on the body of transdisciplinary scholarship, we call our framework “Speculative Normativism”. Built on a foundational, “comprehending vision”, linear in the temporal dimension, highly integrative, and shaped by complex contextual perceptions, capacities, and flows, the method is made operative within the “Territory of Hybridization and Co-Production” where design agency, transformative action, and co-production moves past singular disciplinary expertise toward projective contributions. To illustrate our framework, we tell the story of co-production among academics, students, professionals, and the community to address grand challenges, create a Net Zero Energy (NZE) prototype structure which collects solar energy, rainwater, creates a public realm to support active learning and training, and generates energy, educational opportunities, and equity in Detroit. The prototype represents a catalytic act in a larger vision to achieve a NZE future for the city, and launch a next generation in TDD.
